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MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Israel’s war cabinet and government are scheduled to vote today on a phased cease-fire and hostage-exchange deal reached with Hamas after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed this morning that an agreement had been reached. [more]
• Palestinian officials say more than 70 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since yesterday as negotiations on implementing a cease-fire that is expected to begin on Sunday continued. [more]

U.S. DRUG SENTENCES | President Joe Biden, just days ahead of leaving office, announced today that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses. In a statement, Biden says the clemency action provides relief for individuals serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice, and notes that he has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history. [White House statement] [more]

U.S. SOCIAL MEDIA | Reports say the outgoing Biden administration will not immediately enforce a law banning the social media platform TikTok, which is scheduled to take effect on Sunday. The incoming Trump administration has signaled its support for extending the deadline for the platform to be divested from its Chinese parent company. [more]

U.S. ABORTION | A federal judge in Texas ruled yesterday that Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri can move forward with a lawsuit that seeks to roll back federal rules preserving access to the abortion drug mifepristone. The states are seeking to prohibit tele-health prescriptions for the drug, require that it be used only in the first seven weeks of pregnancy instead of the current 10 weeks, and mandate three in-person doctor office visits prior to the drug being prescribed. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Sting, Billie Eilish, Jelly Roll, Green Day, Lady Gaga, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rod Stewart, and Gwen Stefani are among the artists announced as participants in the January 30th FireAid concert. The concert will raise funds for relief efforts for the ongoing Los Angeles-area wildfires, which have killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes. [more]

TEXAS | Truck driver Homero Zamorano Jr. pleaded guilty in a Texas federal court yesterday to various charges related to the deaths of 53 migrants in a tractor-trailer in 2022. Zamorano is scheduled to be sentenced in April and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to Justice Department officials. [more]

RUSSIA AND IRAN | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are scheduled to sign a cooperation treaty today in Moscow. Kremlin officials say the “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” covers a wide variety of areas, including trade, defense, science, education, and culture. [more]

CHINA | Government data released today shows that China’s population was 1.408 billion at the end of 2024 – down 1.39 million from 2023 and the third straight annual decline. [more]

MORE CHINA | The Chinese economy, bolstered by strong manufacturing and export performance, grew at an annual rate of 5% in 2024, according to data released today by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. [more]

PAKISTAN | Imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife were sentenced to 14 and seven years in prison, respectively, today by a Pakistani court that found the two guilty on charges of corruption. [more]

SPACE | A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up minutes after launching from Texas yesterday, forcing dozens of airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to be diverted to avoid falling debris and causing departures from airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to be delayed for almost an hour. [more]

COLLEGE ATHLETICS | The U.S. Department of Education released guidance yesterday that says name, image, and likeness money paid to college athletes should be treated the same as athletic financial aid and, therefore, be distributed in accordance with Title IX regulations that require proportional distribution to male and female athletes. Reports say the guidance complicates the shift in college athletics that allows athletes to be paid directly by colleges and universities. [full guidance] [more]

R.I.P. | Celebrated filmmaker David Lynch, best known for movies such as “Blue Velvet" and Mulholland Drive” and for the television series “Twin Peaks,” died yesterday at the age of 79. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1920, prohibition of alcohol began in the United States as the Volstead Act went into effect in support of the 18th Amendment. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, in December 1933.  [more history]